Original Sin: A Cultural History
By Alan Jacobs
3.5/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
Essayist and biographer Alan Jacobs introduces us to the world of original sin, which he describes as not only a profound idea but a necessary one. As G. K. Chesterton explains, "Only with original sin can we at once pity the beggar and distrust the king."
Do we arrive in this world predisposed to evil? St. Augustine passionately argued that we do; his opponents thought the notion was an insult to a good God. Ever since Augustine, the church has taught the doctrine of original sin, which is the idea that we are not born innocent, but as babes we are corrupt, guilty, and worthy of condemnation. Thus started a debate that has raged for centuries and done much to shape Western civilization.
Perhaps no Christian doctrine is more controversial; perhaps none is more consequential. Blaise Pascal claimed that "but for this mystery, the most incomprehensible of all, we remain incomprehensible to ourselves." Chesterton affirmed it as the only provable Christian doctrine. Modern scholars assail the idea as baleful and pernicious. But whether or not we believe in original sin, the idea has shaped our most fundamental institutions—our political structures, how we teach and raise our young, and, perhaps most pervasively of all, how we understand ourselves. In Original Sin, Alan Jacobs takes readers on a sweeping tour of the idea of original sin, its origins, its history, and its proponents and opponents. And he leaves us better prepared to answer one of the most important questions of all: Are we really, all of us, bad to the bone?
Alan Jacobs
Alan Jacobs is professor of English at Wheaton College in Illinois. He is the author of several books, including most recently The Narnian, a biography of C. S. Lewis. His literary and cultural criticism has appeared in a wide range of periodicals, including the Boston Globe, The American Scholar, First Things, Books & Culture, and The Oxford American.
Read more from Alan Jacobs
The Narnian: The Life and Imagination of C. S. Lewis Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Liberal Arts for the Christian Life Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOriginal Sin: A Cultural History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5True Happiness: The Teachings of Ramana Maharshi Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Socrates Without Tears Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMyrobalan of the Magi Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings108 Sonnets for Awakening: and Selected Poems Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe House on the Moor Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSix of Diamonds Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Original Sin
Related ebooks
Suffering, not Power: Atonement in the Middle Ages Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPeople's History of Christianity: From the Reformation to the 21st Century Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIn the Beauty of Holiness: Art and the Bible in Western Culture Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Renewing the Evangelical Mission Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsReinventing Anglicanism: A Vision of Confidence, Community and Engagement in Anglican Christianity Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Decline of the Novel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Antithesis between Symbolism and Revelation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSuffering and Evil in Early Christian Thought (Holy Cross Studies in Patristic Theology and History) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIntegration: Race, T. B. Maston, and Hope for the Desegregated Church Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRedeeming Expertise: Scientific Trust and the Future of the Church Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDivine Humility: God's Morally Perfect Being Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFinding and Seeking: Ethics as Theology, vol. 2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGod of All Comfort: A Trinitarian Response to the Horrors of This World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Augustine Our Contemporary: Examining the Self in Past and Present Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Christian Theology of Science: Reimagining a Theological Vision of Natural Knowledge Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Gentile Christian Identity from Cornelius to Constantine: The Nations, the Parting of the Ways, and Roman Imperial Ideology Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsReading Theology Wisely: A Practical Introduction Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPutting On Virtue: The Legacy of the Splendid Vices Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Evolution of the West: How Christianity Has Shaped Our Values Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEveryday Glory: The Revelation of God in All of Reality Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPagans and Christians in the City: Culture Wars from the Tiber to the Potomac Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChristian Dying: Witnesses from the Tradition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTraces of the Trinity: Signs of God in Creation and Human Experience Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Challenging the Spirit of Modernity: A Study of Groen van Prinsterer's Unbelief and Revolution Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWho’s Afraid of the Unmoved Mover?: Postmodernism and Natural Theology Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Nicene Option: An Incarnational Phenomenology Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of Common Prayer: A Biography Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Rumor of Angels: Modern Society and the Rediscovery of the Supernatural Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Old Religion in a New World: The History of North American Christianity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Evil and Creation: Historical and Constructive Essays in Christian Dogmatics Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Christianity For You
The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Girl, Wash Your Face: Stop Believing the Lies About Who You Are so You Can Become Who You Were Meant to Be Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Bible Recap: A One-Year Guide to Reading and Understanding the Entire Bible Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love that Lasts Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Winning the War in Your Mind: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Uninvited: Living Loved When You Feel Less Than, Left Out, and Lonely Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mere Christianity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of Enoch Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Good Girl's Guide to Great Sex: Creating a Marriage That's Both Holy and Hot Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will Follow You Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Your Brain's Not Broken: Strategies for Navigating Your Emotions and Life with ADHD Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Story: The Bible as One Continuing Story of God and His People Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wild at Heart Expanded Edition: Discovering the Secret of a Man's Soul Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Anxious for Nothing: Finding Calm in a Chaotic World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Holy Bible (World English Bible, Easy Navigation) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Boundaries Updated and Expanded Edition: When to Say Yes, How to Say No To Take Control of Your Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Boundaries Workbook: When to Say Yes, How to Say No to Take Control of Your Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Changes That Heal: Four Practical Steps to a Happier, Healthier You Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Screwtape Letters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Pursuit of God with Study Guide: The Human Thirst for the Divine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Four Loves Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Decluttering at the Speed of Life: Winning Your Never-Ending Battle with Stuff Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Lead When You're Not in Charge: Leveraging Influence When You Lack Authority Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Present Over Perfect: Leaving Behind Frantic for a Simpler, More Soulful Way of Living Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Boundaries with Kids: How Healthy Choices Grow Healthy Children Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Original Sin
21 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5While the book trailed off at the end (the story seemed to lose some coherence as Jacobs began talking about the modern world), the book was nevertheless well worth the read.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Alan Jacobs. What more needs to be said? In his capable hands, even a controversial idea such as original sin, is a delight to consider. Jacobs' writing style and insight join together in a book that is enjoyable to read and thought-provoking.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Three guys lay sun-blistered on the shore of a desert island. Something shiny washes up and one of the guys notices it glinting in the waves. He rubs the sand from it and out bursts a genie, to much sensory fanfare.
“As reward for releasing me from centuries of captivity, I grant each of you a wish,” booms the genie (but the genie probably communicates this in their heads, telepathic-like, because I don’t think anyone or anything, magical or otherwise, that has been isolated from humanity for centuries would speak in the modern vernacular; this goes for Jesus too).
The three guys stare slack jawed and the genie quickly apprehends that it isn’t dealing with the sharpest knives in the drawer, so it doesn’t go into the rules of wish granting, like one can’t wish for more wishes, or wish oneself a genie, that sort of thing.
The first guy thinks a minute and says, “My greatest wish is to be back home with my family.”
POOF!
He disappears in a cloud of B-movie smoke.
The second guy looks to where the first guy had been, thinks a minute longer and says, “I don’t have a family, so I wish to be the wealthiest man in the world.”
POOF!
He likewise disappears in a cloud of B-movie smoke, presumably to Santa Barbara or Hong Kong.
The third guy averts his eyes from the genie and cries out, “Oh wicked spirit! God was punishing us for our sins! My wish from thee is that the other two were back here with me! Of their own free will! And in accordance with the Law of Moses! Also, if you’ve got a minute, I’d like to talk to you about accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal savior.”
Can you guess which of these three individuals is the author of Original Sin, Alan Jacobs?
*****
Does it come as a great surprise to you that you’re an asshole? I don’t mean to be judgmental here, because I’m an asshole too. So are your loved ones, neighbors, therapist, everyone that has anything to do with delivering books to your doorstep, your favorite musician, Gandhi, the casts and crews of every sitcom you’ve watched, the president of the United States, whoever discovered the wheel, that woman you saw drop money in some panhandler’s jar, the panhandler himself, your favorite teacher, and any and everybody you, I, or anyone else have ever known or will ever know -- as well as everyone they’ve ever known, or ever will know -- to time immemorial, so on and so forth, ad infinitum.
Assholes, one and all.
Sure, there are varying degrees of assholism and we can argue its origins, but let’s leave it to the philosophers to tease out the nuances. For now, it’s only necessary to accept and understand the basic premise that our species is victim to this unfortunate and immutable condition.
Fine. Alan Jacobs agrees, but he is fixated. He must have thought himself quite special at some time or other because assholism is a fetish for him. And what does he do? Well, he does what every fetishist who wishes to gain acceptance in larger society does -- he rationalizes himself blue in the face. He tells us that it’s liberating to discover you’re an asshole because it’s democratizing! Thieving bureaucrats who condemn innocents to prison? Assholes! Corporatists who swindle us and can’t think past a 90-day financial quarter? Assholes! But so is everybody, so what’s the big deal? We all suffer the same fate.
Alpha assholes are no worse than us middling assholes, when you take the Jacobs-long view: let them store up riches where moth and rust decay, render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, all that rot. No need to worry about the here and now because the problem is too big for any of us to get our pathetic asshole arms around. Let it be. Don’t buy into that “social progress” kerfluffle, because it’s just dressed up as “scientific progress,” itself code for LIBERAL. Besides, anything humanity proposes to improve things is doomed to failure because, well, we’re all assholes. Better to trust in tradition. Unquestioningly.
Original sin is the filthy and gnarled thread of redemption, suitable for self-flagellation.
At this point, things get existential, and Mr. Jacobs refers his readers to the nearest altar call, lest they go insane like poor Jonathan Swift who, sadly, went nuts because he recognized the Fall but couldn’t bring himself to accept the Grace. (It's not nearly as sad, but sad nevertheless, that Mr. Jacobs could stand a little of the secular crazy himself because his prose is guilty of the sin of plodding.)
So. Where does this leave us? Still assholes, certainly. Just some of us have trouble accepting the fact; we can’t take a hit, psychologically-speaking. These are the scariest assholes of all. They take the germ of a disease and magnify it to monstrous proportions, until it’s bigger than us all and we forget that we’re more than just assholes, we’re human beings trying to extricate ourselves from the medieval morass of a history guided largely by people like Alan Jacobs.